As a PR consultant at PRinHR, I work closely with several HR clients within the private sector, delivering PR campaigns, producing corporate blogs and press releases and identifying relevant media opportunities within the trade, business press and nationals.

I’m also a copywriter – I produce SEO-friendly articles and blogs for a range of B2B and B2C websites. To date, I’ve produced content on behalf of digital content providers for well-known brands including Very.co.uk, Waitrose, Sony, Travel Weekly and Long Tall Sally.

I was the News Editor covering the launch period of new, online London newspaper The Positive

I was a digital marketer for a public sector jobs board, promoting the latest recruitment initiatives.

I was the editor of the UK’s leading special educational needs magazine, SEN Magazine

I managed the PR for a small consultancy firm in South Wales.

The Personal Stuff

So that’s the ‘career’ stuff out the way. Now for the nitty-gritty…

I was born with what, at the time, was an undiagnosed congenital syndrome. But following DNA testing in 2012 thanks to the 2007 discovery of a correlating gene mutation, I was finally diagnosed with Goltz Syndrome – or Focal Dermal Hypoplasia – a congenital disability characterised by skeletal deformities, facial asymmetry and microphthalmia of one eye.

Whilst a person’s experience of disability goes some way to shape a personality, it doesn’t define who they are. I’m a book-loving, history-geek with a passion for all things literary and I adore – really adore – well-researched and well-written books about the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Non-fiction books, biographies, well-written fiction, I gobble it up. I’m not talking about the cheesy unsubtle junk that some historical fiction authors churn out, either. I’m talking about the really good stuff. The Roddy Doyles, the Margaret Atwoods or even the Marina Lewyckas of the historical fiction world. Think Michael Faber, Clare Clark, Jane Harris, Patrick Suskind, Deborah Moggach, Susan Vreeland, to name but a few. I could go on….

I’m also working on my own historical novel. I say ‘working’ because it’s been in the state of ‘working’ since 2002. Nearly fifteen years later (gosh, has it really been that long?) I’m nowhere near finishing it, but it’s the journey that counts, not the destination. Right?

With the exception of my rather wonderful toddler who takes up much of my time (as she should), and my long-suffering partner who can’t build bookcases for my growing collection quick enough, my life pretty much revolves around reading and writing. Writing and me: we make a good team.